THE seat distribution between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) for the Selangor elections has been completed with BN allocated more than 20% of the 56 seats contested, Selangor PH chairman Amirudin Shari said.

Amirudin, who is also Selangor caretaker menteri besar, said the seat distribution was agreed upon by PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

“The remaining seats will be contested by PH candidates and this will be decided after taking into account the seats held by the parties before the dissolution of the state assembly.

“The current political situation, latest strength between parties in the unity government coalition as well as the accessibility to combine the strengths of both parties are among the factors in determining the seat distribution,” he said.

He said taking into account all these factors, the seat distribution was well-received by both coalitions.

Previously, BN was reported to be aiming to contest at least 14 seats in the polls, taking into account PH’s position, which won 16 of the 22 parliamentary seats in Selangor in the general election in November last year.

In the 2018 general election, BN won four state seats, namely Sungai Air Tawar, Sungai Burong, Sungai Panjang and Hulu Bernam, before wresting the Semenyih seat from PH in a by-election in 2019.

On the candidates to be fielded by PH, Amirudin said the list is still being studied and needs more discussions before the candidates are finalised.

He also gave an assurance that in addition to retaining the incumbents, PH will introduce several new faces.

“As I have mentioned before, we will try to strike a balance between candidates who have long contributed to the constituency or locality they represent and new faces,” he said.

Selangor has 3,747,057 voters and will hold polls simultaneously with five other states – Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang and Negri Sembilan – on Aug 12.

In the 2018 polls, PH secured 51 state seats in Selangor, followed by BN and PAS with four and one seat respectively.

The state assembly before its dissolution saw PH holding 40 seats (PKR - 19, DAP - 15, Amanah - 6), BN (5), Bersatu (4), Parti Bangsa Malaysia (2) and PAS, Pejuang and Warisan having one each, along with one Independent representative.

Another seat in Batang Kali, however, was declared vacant after the assemblyman failed to attend assembly meetings for more than six months. – Bernama, July 9, 2023.